Collaborating with the Sierra Club's National Toxics program, the Massachusetts Chapter has been working in neighboring Rhode Island to address the PFAS crisis.
Key:
Grey: Untested due to no local drinking water sources
Cream = No local testing performed yet
Green = No PFAS detected (above the reporting limit)
Yellow = Total PFAS detected at a total of less 20 parts per trillion (ppt)
Red = Total PFAS detected at a total greater than 20 ppt
The map shows the 26 cities and towns that contain one or more public water systems that the state has tested for up to 19 longer-chain PFAS chemicals including those that the state is considering regulating (the same six long-chain chemicals as in Maine and Massachusetts):
- Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)
- Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
- Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS)
- Perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA)
- Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)
- Perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA)
PFAS have been detected in 81% of all tested communities.
Here is the sum of the maximum observed value for each PFAS across all locations of the public water systems within a municipality since 2017 as of December, 2021:
| Municipality | Total Number of PFAS Chemicals detected | Total Number of PFAS Chemicals tested | Total Amount of All PFAS Detected (ppt) |
| Bristol | 0 | 13 | 0.00 |
| Burrillville | 9 | 14 | 228.11 |
| Charlestown | 7 | 16 | 125.83 |
| Coventry | 6 | 14 | 41.00 |
| Cumberland | 8 | 14 | 94.05 |
| East Greenwich | 4 | 14 | 38.69 |
| Exeter | 6 | 14 | 53.98 |
| Foster | 5 | 14 | 42.35 |
| Glocester | 6 | 14 | 158.89 |
| Hopkinton | 1 | 9 | 4.04 |
| Johnston | 0 | 9 | 0.00 |
| Little Compton | 4 | 14 | 28.86 |
| Middletown | 8 | 17 | 56.87 |
| Newport | 5 | 14 | 35.61 |
| North Kingstown | 7 | 14 | 77.58 |
| North Providence | 6 | 9 | 93.52 |
| North Smithfield | 4 | 14 | 48.22 |
| Portsmouth | 1 | 14 | 15.74 |
| Prudence Island | 0 | 14 | 0.00 |
| Richmond | 1 | 14 | 5.26 |
| Scituate | 6 | 14 | 62.68 |
| Smithfield | 0 | 9 | 0.00 |
| South Kingstown | 7 | 14 | 54.37 |
| Tiverton | 4 | 17 | 12.00 |
| West Greenwich | 0 | 14 | 0.00 |
| Westerly | 9 | 19 | 49.61 |
| Woonsocket | 3 | 14 | 17.45 |
| AVERAGE | 4.3 | 13.7 | 49.8 |
Note: Zero ppt technically can mean non-detection or detection below the reporting limit.